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BRUMBIES EMBRACING ‘SPECIAL’ MOANA MATCH-UP

The Brumbies are looking to bounce back after two tough defeats when they face Moana Pasifika in Auckland.

Dan McKellar’s men were on track for a statement victory over the ladder-leading Blues before a late Beauden Barrett drop-goal broke their hearts.

After their frustrating defeat to the Crusaders a week earlier, Brumbies prop Scott Sio concedes they need to be more clinical if they wish for strong performances to translate to wins.

“We’re competing well but at the end of the day, the aim of the competition is winning and to beat the best sides in the competition, you have to win,” Sio told reporters.

“Sometimes it’s not about how you get it done, it’s about getting it done. Unfortunately, we’ve fallen short the last few weeks but we’re pretty confident in where we are as a group and being able to make the right adjustments heading into Moana.

“I think we just have to start well. We haven’t done ourselves any favours with our first 40 minutes in both games. We’ve put ourselves on the back foot and really had to chase the game late. Credit to our finishers, they’ve come on and done well over the past two weeks and given us a chance.

“At the end of the day, we gave ourselves the chance to win that game and unfortunately we weren’t good enough to close it out. We’ve just got to look at how we can get better in closing out those games because we know it’s going to take 80-minute performances from here on out.”

They get the chance to bounce back against the expansion side and club legend Christian Leali’ifano on Saturday.

It will mark the first time Leali’ifano will face his old side and whilst he’ll have a target on his back, Sio and the Brumbies were full of praise for the 34-year-old.

“Yeah, can’t wait to run over Christian (Leali’ifano) this week. If you’re watching bruzzy I’m coming for you,” Sio joked.

“We’ve had a few jabs here and there but all healthy banter at the end of the day. We’re really good mates but also fierce rivals for 80 minutes this week. We’ll try to do the best for our teams to get the result.

“Playing Super Rugby against him is weird and seeing him in a different jersey but we’ve had the luxury of watching him play for Moana for the whole season. I think it would’ve been a lot weirder playing him in round one (as initially scheduled). He’s led that team really well with Sekope (Kepu) and they’ve managed to gel and put some good performances together.

“We’re expecting a fierce battle this week…It’s a special game, isn’t it? Earlier in the year, we got to experience playing against the (Fijian) Drua and it’s been lovely having them in the competition.

“They’ve brought in a new flair and Moana has done the same, really representing their people and culture and I think it brings a new dynamic to Super Rugby, really uplifting the Pacific and the players and the contributions they have made.

“As a group, we’ve got a heavy representation of Pacific Islander culture that our organisation has got behind and the whole organisation is looking forward to it.”

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